Spo-reflections on Integrity

I had a prodromal essay on the subject of integrity but it seems to have disappeared. This is most curious for I had three versions of it on three different computers (home office, work, and laptop). They have been all absconded, perhaps Hair Furor and his minions have deleted them as it is a now-forbidden attribute. So as not to let down the Spo-fan who requested said entry, I will be succinct to the point in this remake.

Integrity is what we do when no one is looking. It is doing the right thing even when you know you could get away with it. Some examples:

Stopping at the stop sign late at night when no one is around to see you.

Obeying the highway entry traffic light even when you know you can get away with it.

Not taking a small item when the gas station attendant has their back turned to you.

Keeping promise seven when certain the others have probably forgotten all about it.

Some would argue integrity is even more defined about what you WON’T do despite what everyone else is doing. People who see others blowing through the mentioned highway ramp entry signal are more likely to do likewise along the line what the hell everyone is doing it. It is a common phenomenon when folks see cheaters getting away with something they follow.

Honor and Integrity are not synonymous. Integrity is a ‘within me” matter while honor is something bestowed on you. Honor can be horizontal (given by peers) or vertical (given by minions and underlines). Most of the time honor and integrity are highly correlated but not always. One can lose honor for having integrity and one could be honored for tossing integrity. I once had a patient of a certain background who told me in his culture to not steal when possible would lose honor.

Thanks to my Midwest Protestant upbringing Integrity is rather ingrained. I am one to do things one should do even when no one is looking – I think. There are exceptions. I don’t wipe down the gym equipment with hand sanitizer, even though the rule says to do so, on the scientific rationale this does no good. At the grocery store I don’t point out to the check-out lady my vegetables are the more expensive organic ones, but hope she won’t notice. There goes my good Henley St. name. Perhaps I qualify after all for a federal government job.

Spo-Reflections 2006-2016

26 comments

A friend and I recently had a discussion about the difference between morals and ethics. He’s of the mind that morals are black and white statements while ethics are more personal and come in a varying shades of gray. Your modest proposal seems apt to our conversation.

I suspect most youngster do, more than we realize. The lamentation of the oldsters for the young ones has gone throughout the history of mankind. Even Socrates kvetched how degenerate were the young Athenians, not like the ‘old school’ ones.

this is very interesting topic, I look at being honourable or behaving with honour or personal honour as a matter of principle, something a well bred person would have as part of their upbringing. Integrity is as you say within you, either you have it or you don’t. It seems that integrity nowadays is in short supply.

I’m known as being highly moral and have loads of integrity. However when I note a system misbehaving – like the left turn signal on Bald Hill Rd. in Warwick, RI going through 5 cycles of the light but never triggering the left turn signal I waited until it was safe and ran the light.

The issue is that common sense isn’t so common. However that morality I spoke of – it is sort of fluid in some respects. For example speed laws – I break them regularly because I know that they were set artificially low.

Oh and the other thing. Those speed limits were set when cars all had leaf springs and shitty suspension and handling. Newer cars have traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes, etc. Even automatic braking and adaptive cruise control. So there’s no reason for highways in the area to have a max 45/55 mph in the area where I live.

And I recall it was all 70MPH when I was young. So it’s time we start creeping up toward that again. I mean what’s the point of squeezing 300 horsepower out of a 4 cylinder engine if you can’t do some ludicrous speed.

I too don’t pay attention to the electronic checking out process looking for errors. It goes too quickly and I feel like a jerk if I stop production to exclaim a discreprency (which nearly is always my error).

I remember when I used to have integrity. Now I just pretend to have integrity when others are looking. I am not happy with this development.

One of the great advantages of being Christian is that Santa watches you day and night, so you have more incentive to behave well before you die and are thrown into a burning lake of fire because you underpaid for vegetables. I imagine that the APA Secret Police fulfil a similar niche.

Excellent post on an important subject. Like you I was brought up to always be honest. But like the chicken and the egg, I’m not quite sure what comes first. I remember the first time one of my little playmates told an obvious lie, how shocked I was that he would lie. I was only four years old at the time. Like you I have always valued my integrity in my character. I may be immature, jealous, and cynical at time but I am never dishonest. There is no other way I can be. I like to sleep at night and if I was dishonest I could not sleep. Of course I know one with this characteristic usually doesn’t get to far in the material world (witness Donald Trump who has no integrity and can still sleep at night) but I would rather be the way I am than dishonest. And this characteristic is important in the friends that I choose. Bill and Pat are the most honest people I’ve ever known in my life.